Wednesday, February 16, 2005

An iPod changed his life

Some writer, who I'm not even going to pretend I've ever heard of, wrote an article on Comic World News about how his new iPod, and his subsequent introduction to iTunes, changed his view of paying for comics online. It's interesting, as he discusses how his priorities have shifted with regards his comic collection. He talks about how he used to have a huge collection, that he would never have had the time to read, but has since reduced it down because he's now more interested in the reading than the actual ownership. While I'd argue that that's more a symptom of him growing up, the idea that services like iTunes might open peoples eyes to the notion of online subscriptions is worth considering.

It was not so long ago, and there are still a few around, that certain muso types were complaining about cds replacing their beloved vinyl. The quality of sound was better and they were a much easier to transport around but these people argued on a more philosophical plain. The same thing, kind of, is happening with mp3s. People are talking about ownership, in it's most abstract form, and the pleasure of reading sleeve notes - which, oddly enough, was one of the arguments the old vinyl heads used. At least we're being spared the old "smell" argument. Still, the sheer convenience, and cost effectiveness, of services like iTunes is slowly winning more and more people over.

Now that whole argument has crossed over to print vs. web. It's not new but, realistically, it's only now seeming like a serious argument. The argument from the print side is, and has always been, that people prefer reading from print. You can't sit down in your favourite armchair, put your feet up and flick through your desktop. That's true but it's missing the point. The reason the internet is a threat to the print media is because it allows us to discriminate in a way the papers don't. More and more people are going to sacrifice the pleasure of reading from print, so that they can get the information they want. Portable devices are now also making it possible for people to read online media away from the desktop, so that argument is getting weaker and weaker. It won't be that long before it will be the general practice of most people to access their news through the internet and most newspapers will be focused on delivering in that direction. If print papers want to survive they will have to adapt and start splitting their content into sections because, for example, while I always read the culture section of the Sunday Times, the rest of the paper holds absolutely no interest for me.

So how does this all relate to online comics and the business of funny cartoons. Ok the first thing is, this doesn't actually relate to BifSniff Cartoons. As Frank points out, traditionally funny cartoons and cartoon strips belong alongside other content. They are a side-note and that's fine. We'll never be asking you to subscribe to BifSniff Cartoons. We might on the other hand, sometime in the future, realistically expect to be able to charge other sites for publishing our cartoons. This more relates to the likes of Theater Hopper, Jet Set Revolution, Questionable Content, Order Of The Stick and Bad Blood - all picked completely off the top of my head. These are all long running stories that, obviously, take alot of time and effort. So why shouldn't they charge? There are all sorts of arguments about business models etc etc and certainly the internet has opened things up alot over the years. But the fact remains that these people work at what they do and have every right to expect to be paid for it. I actually flicked through some old copies of Deadline, a print comic I used to collect, and realised that there really was only ever two or three stories in it that interested me. Now a days I just wouldn't buy it. I'd sooner pay for the ones I want to read and not have to pay extra for guff I've no interest in. Of course for the moment, I can get plenty of what I want for free but, really, eventually that's got to come to an end.